Pioneer makes great plasma TVs featuring the deep blacks and impressively high contrast that this technology offers. For years the company’s mantra was akin to ‘Plasma good, LCD bad’. So it was a surprise last year when Pioneer announced it would be making LCD screens. Like the plasma models, these screens are called Kuro. The …

The real question...

The consensus, at least until recently, was that full-HD was useless on anything below 42 inches. Nevertheless, manufacturers across the board added it to various TVs because gullible people wouldn't touch buy unless it had a full complement of mystery acronyms.

The real question is whether this is worth the extra money over the Panasonic 37PX80 plasma. The Panasonic is considered a bargain at £600-700, not least because it manages to keep the price down by avoiding un-necessary spec add-ons.

Sizes

No more Pioneer plasmas

A real shame, a friend blew £3k on a Kuro plasma and it is just about the most awesome TV ever. It's about the same shape and size as the Monolith from 2001 and its blacks are even blacker. I don't know why they pulled out of the plasma market when they were so far ahead of the opposition.

HDMI

"Setup is simple enough – though as you plug in your Sky+ HD box, Blu-ray player and PS3 you’ll notice you’ve just used up all the HDMI sockets. For the price premium this set commands, a fourth socket on the side of the TV would have been expected, but no, three’s your lot."

You want four HDMI sockets? Why? Please explain why it should have 4?

1. Blu-ray

2. Cable/Satelite

3. Games console

What you plugging into the fourth that wouldn't actually replace one of the others?

Try finding an amp with 4 HDMI inputs for a reasonable price because that's what stands in between most sources and a high end panel.

It's as if you're just trying to find something to bitch about.

Re:Blu-ray AND PS3?

No, the PS3 does not piss over all but the very top end blu-ray players. Not even close. True when it first came out but not even close now. sony 350 and Panasonic BD35 both rated higher and both nowhere near top end.